A/N: Thanks for the reviews and for being patient with what was quite clearly a set-up chapter. I hate giving you guys those, honestly. Fortunately, this chapter has a lot more action, and let me just say that I totally creeped myself out by writing the end of the chapter. Seriously, I had to stop a couple of times because I was shuddering. I'll have a couple more notes about it at the end because I don't want to spoil it. In the meantime, enjoy!

Even though she had spent months there, Illusion Castle still had the ability to give Kujaku Mai the creeps. She slipped down one of the long, seemingly endless hallways without making a sound, all in the effort to ensure that anyone who walked by her would be unaware that she was there. Not that it really mattered how stealthy she was: there was no one around, not even any servants, even though the entrance hall was filthy. When Pegasus and Hafiz were having a meeting, everyone did what they could to vacate the area just in case said meeting did not go well. Hafiz was well known for taking his temper out on whoever was unfortunate enough to be caught when he was in a bad mood. Most of her fellow servants would have deemed her crazy for taking such a risk.

But Mai was a guardian, and even before that power and sense of duty had been awoken within her, she'd never been one to back down from a challenge. Boldly, she sidled up to the door and placed her ear against the wood. Muffled conversation from within told her that she'd found the correct room, but she couldn't hear clearly enough to get any details. Fortunately, she'd been around long enough to know Illusion Castle like the back of her hand, including the secrets that the servants kept to themselves. She crouched, her nails seeking and finding a nearly invisible niche that had been carved into the wall. Her fingers danced along the wood, searching for exactly the right spot. When she found it, a small section of wood panelling flew up and clear voices poured out into the hall.

" - Master! I don't believe that it's smart to challenge them when they're all together. They're resourceful. You know that Dark Witch has already been sent to the Shadow Realm by one of them. He could easily do the same to us."

"Are you questioning my methods, Maiden of the Moonlight?" Hafiz retorted, his voice brimming with barely suppressed rage. Mai grimaced and crouched down further so that her ear was closer to the small square. She didn't dare sit even though it would have been far more comfortable; it was necessary for her to be able to make a quick getaway if someone came near the door.

"N-No Master," Maiden of the Moonlight said quickly, sounding frightened. "I... I didn't mean to... Please Master!" Her voice rose into a shriek of pain, followed by the sound of a body hitting the floor.

"Master!" Another voice followed, this one less familiar. "Please. She meant you no disrespect. None of us did. Without her the spell on the pharaoh's hikari will be gone, and there is a chance that he could escape. Please."

"... Very well. All of you listen to me closely. I am your master and I command you to do as I say regardless of what happens, understood? Whatever those pathetic yami or guardians bring against you will be nothing compared to what I will do to you if you don't obey me." Hafiz's voice was dark with promise, and Mai shuddered, grateful that she was not on the receiving end of it. "I want the two hikaris brought back to the castle. Make sure that they have the Millennium Items with them or I will be most displeased."

"And... and the rest of the guardians, Master? What shall we do with them?"

"Kill them," Hafiz said dismissively. "If you can subdue the yamis you may bring them along as well. I should like to watch their faces as I kill their lighter halfs slowly and painfully." He chuckled. "But if you have to kill them, then you have my permission to do as you must. They will not be willing to let their hikaris go without a battle."

"Yes Master," several voices said together.

Mai jumped to her feet when she heard the footsteps approaching the door and quickly secreted herself in the small hiding spot behind it just as it swung open. She didn't dare risk looking to see the duel monsters that were leaving, though she dearly wanted to know what kind of monsters Hafiz had at his disposal. Her heart raced as she listened to them walk down the hall. Where was Hafiz? If she were caught, there was no question in her mind that he would kill her, but there was no way to leave without being seen. It took considerable effort to calm her pounding heart to the point that she could hear what was going on around her, but she managed it through sheer willpower. Eventually, she realized that she could hear his voice coming from inside the room. Though she strained to hear what he was saying, he was speaking in a soft whisper and she couldn't hear a single word.

After a few minutes, he stopped and she heard the sound of more footsteps coming, indicating that he was leaving the room. At the same time, someone came walking down the hall towards the room. Mai closed her eyes, ready to summon her partner monster at a moment's notice if it became necessary. Although she had hoped to hide her guardian status from him for a while longer, she wasn't going to take a battle lying down if that's what it came to. There had been far too many times when she had done that already. The memory of the last time he'd nearly gotten her alone still haunted her, and in all honesty that encounter had been enough to turn her off guys forever.

"Hafiz. What were you doing?"

Mai stifled a shocked gasp as she was jerking out of her thoughts, recognizing the voice. Suddenly, she was relieved that she hadn't gotten away after all.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with, hikari," replied Hafiz, trying and failing to sound soothing. "I was merely giving the slaves their instructions. I thought you were resting?"

"I was, but..." Pegasus trailed off and an odd, awkward silence fell for a few seconds before he spoke again, sounding hesitant. "I had a dream about Cynthia."

Her heart twisted and she squeezed her eyes shut tightly.

"And what was the dream about?"

"She was... She said that I should leave." Pegasus sounded puzzled, like he couldn't understand why the memory of his young wife would have ordered him to leave the home he had built for the two of them. "She said that I wasn't safe here and that if I stayed we'd be together too soon. What did she mean by that? I'm here because I want to be with her again."

"And you will be," Hafiz promised. "I promised you that when we met. Maybe Cynthia was just worried because things with the Millennium Items are progressing so quickly. Women can be like that, you know. They're always afraid of success."

Mai rolled her eyes. She'd promised herself long ago that she would never allow Hafiz to lay a finger on her again, but at that moment she wouldn't have minded the kind of contact that involved her fist and his face.

"Maybe," the younger man agreed doubtfully. "But... she looked so worried. I never want to see her look like that again."

"I'm sure she won't, hikari. Now, why don't you go have a glass of wine? I heard that Croquet has returned. I imagine he'll have some interesting stories to tell you."

Patronizing bastard! Mai seethed silently and listened closely as footsteps retreated. When she was certain that they were both gone, she slid the panel back into place and eased out from behind the door, planning to slip away before anyone realized that she had ever been there. But before she could hurry away, she realized that she hadn't been quite as alone as she'd thought. Pegasus was standing in the middle of the corridor, gazing out the window. He must have heard her, though, because he started and spun around. His eyes widened when he caught sight of her and she bit her lip against all of the instinctive words that wanted to spill out of her.

"Cynthia?" he whispered, shocked.

For a split second, she hesitated, wanting to say yes. It would be so easy to make him understand that things had gone terribly wrong if she pretended to be his dead wife. There was only one person in the world that Pegasus trusted unfailingly, one person whose word he never questioned, and that was Cynthia. If she were to pretend to be Cynthia's ghost, she could force him to look into Hafiz's mind with the power of the Millennium Eye and see the danger that Hafiz posed to everyone. The old Mai, the girl she had been before she came here, would have done it in a heartbeat. But she was not that girl anymore and she couldn't bring herself to be so cruel.

"No," she replied gently. "I'm not Cynthia. I'm sorry."

His expression clouded over and he shook his head briskly. "No, of course you aren't. I apologize for having mistaken you for someone else. What were you doing?"

"Nothing," Mai said sadly. "I wasn't doing anything at all."

"Oh." He frowned slightly and she wondered if he would take the time to look into her mind to make sure that she was telling the truth. At one time, he would have, but now the thought didn't seem to have occurred to him. With a vacant nod, he turned away and wandered down the hall, looking for all the world like a lost little boy with nowhere to go. She watched him leave until he had turned the corner before she sighed and went in the opposite direction.

GMA

Malik wasn't really sure when he noticed that the other car was gone. They'd been driving along peacefully for several hours when he stretched and noticed that their car was alone. At first, he thought that it was just because the others had lagged behind a little, and he twisted around to watch the horizon, certain that at any moment, their friends would come up the path behind them. After all, Seto certainly wasn't driving very fast, so it should have been easy for the other car to catch up. But though he kept watch for a good ten minutes, the car never appeared. A sinking feeling began to pool in his stomach and he turned back around to look at the other three boys, knowing that none of them had noticed. He dreaded bringing it to everyone's attention, but...

"Um..." he began hesitantly, "I don't know if you've noticed, but we appear to have lost the other car."

"What?" Seto slammed his foot down on the brakes so abruptly that Malik, who hadn't been wearing his seatbelt, was thrown forward. Mariku grabbed him around the waist before he could go very far and hauled him back, successfully preventing his hikari from flying headfirst through the windshield. He congratulated himself for his efforts by holding Malik hostage in his lap and giving the younger boy a quick grope.

"What do you mean, we lost the other car?" Mokuba un-snapped his seatbelt and squirmed around until he was kneeling on the seat. He looked over Malik's and Mariku's heads wearing an expectant expression, like he thought the other car would magically appear now that he was paying attention. When it didn't his face fell and he shot an apprehensive look at Seto, who was turning an interesting combination of mottled red and white. Moments later, the tall brunette had flung his seatbelt aside and was out of the car and striding down the road back the way they had just come. Sighing, Mokuba pushed his door open and jumped out to run after his brother.

"Mariku," Malik said a moment later.

"Yes, Kitten?"

"Let go of me." He aimed a sharp elbow at Mariku's stomach to get the full meaning of his request across. Mariku gasped in pain and released him, allowing Malik to scramble safely back into his seat as Mokuba returned to the car.

"There's no way to turn the car around and Nii-sama says he isn't stopping," he stated, sounding resigned and not terribly surprised. "Are you two coming?"

Mariku glanced at the wheel with a speculative look. "I bet I could..."

"NO!" Malik and Mokuba shouted together.

"Spoilsports," the yami muttered, pouting.

Ten minutes later, the three of them had caught up to Seto, with Mokuba carrying the additional weight of his brother's bag. The reincarnated priest wore an expression that, on anyone else, would have been considered panic. He was striding quickly down the path, and every few seconds, his blue eyes would flash with a pale light as he tried and failed to contact his lover. Mokuba fell into pace beside him without skipping a beat, while Malik and Mariku hung back a little, neither of them wanting to get too close. Malik glanced at his yami, wondering if Mariku would do something to stop Seto. Personally, he felt that it would have been safer to have remained with the car, but he wasn't crazy enough to mention that to Seto when the brunette had that dangerous look on his face. Mariku, however, didn't seem inclined to put a stop to things, either. He turned at last to Mokuba.

"How much further are we going to walk?" he asked in an undertone.

The shorter boy sighed. "I don't know. Nii-sama isn't going to want to stop, but we've already tried calling them and the cell phones aren't working."

Malik frowned at that and reached into his pocket, pulling out his own phone. Sure enough, there was a little message on the screen telling him that there was no signal available. "I guess we should have thought about that before we came out to the middle of nowhere with no other means of communication," he said under his breath, feeling stupid. None of them had been prepared for this.

"Just be glad it's not Mokuba who's missing," Mariku told him, slinging an arm around his shoulders. "Seto would have summoned his Blue Eyes and torn this forest apart to find him."

"Cheerful thought," Malik muttered. Normally he would've shoved the arm away, but it was growing so chilly that he actually welcomed the additional heat. Even after having spent a handful of winters in Domino, he still wasn't used to the cold and he dealt with it badly. As he snuggled a little closer, he spared a thought to wonder how his sister was making out. Isis hated the cold just as much as he did, but she didn't have a yami to keep her safe and warm.

"Nii-sama, please, can we talk about this?" Mokuba asked pleadingly after another few minutes went by with no signs of Seto stopping. He hurried forward so that he was in front of his brother, though he was practically having to run backwards to keep from being trampled. "We're handling this all wrong. We should be continuing on towards Illusion Castle instead of wandering around blindly. You know that's where Jou and the others will go."

Seto finally paused and looked down with an unreadable expression. Every bone in his body commanded him to find Jou immediately but he couldn't deny that Mokuba had a point. This random charge through the forest was more likely to get them lost and the chances of them actually finding Jou and the others this way was slim to none. It was totally at odds with his normal logical approach to things. He sighed, giving in with a reluctant nod. "Alright, Mokuba, you have a point," he said grudgingly, turning around. "We'll return to the car, check to make sure that we're going in the right direction, and then keep heading towards the castle."

"Saw the light, huh?" Mariku said with a smirk.

"You -" Seto cut himself off sharply, his blue eyes widening at what was behind them. Malik and Mariku looked at him strangely and then spun around to see that the path they had just been walking on had disappeared. The bushes and trees had completely grown over in the span of mere seconds.

"What the hell?" Malik shrugged Mariku's arm off and approached the newly grown portion of forest carefully. He could actually see where the dirt path disappeared underneath the plants. Without thinking about the possible dangers, he reached out to push the bushes aside and promptly yelped when a vine whipped out, curled around his hand, and pierced his flesh with razor sharp thorns. "OW! What the… That plant attacked me! Let go!"

"Malik!" Mariku leapt forward and yanked him backwards, only the vine came with them, still clinging greedily to Malik's wrist and hand. Fresh blood welled up around the puncture wounds and fell to the ground as Mariku grabbed the vine and tried to use force to remove it. Malik whimpered in pain, his vision going strangely fuzzy. Mokuba appeared on his other side and tried to help Mariku pry the vine free but even their combined strength wasn't enough... until a blast of deep blue magic severed the vine in half. The three boys fell to the ground in a heap as the opposing force was destroyed, and Mariku quickly pried what remained of the dying vine off and threw it over his shoulder.

"Malik, are you okay?" Mokuba asked worriedly, leaning over him.

"I... I'm..." Malik fought to open his eyes. When he did, a strangled gasp of fear wrung itself from his lips. "Look out!"

His warning came seconds too late. From the forest around them came even more vines that grabbed for his three companions, sliding around their bodies and jerking them off of their feet. Malik sat up quickly - too quickly - as they were yanked into the forest and out of sight with startled yelps and cries. He started to get to his feet to help them, but the world tilted oddly underneath him and he staggered, only just managing to catch himself on a nearby branch at the last minute. Except... the branch he had grabbed was... breathing? For a split second, he squeezed his eyes shut tightly and wondered, why me? Before opening them again and looking up at a duel monster that he didn't recognize.

"Who are you?" he asked weakly, trying in vain to see past the black spots that were dancing in front of his eyes.

"Not that it will matter to you, but I'm the Silent Magician," said the kid with a smirk. "And it's time for you to stop talking." Calmly, he raised his staff and brought it down against the back of Malik's head. The blonde crumbled to the ground without a sound of protest. Silent Magician smiled triumphantly and leaned down, running his hands over Malik's slender form. He located the Millennium Rod and thrust it into a pocket on his armour before easily hefting the boy's body over his shoulder. He had every confidence that his master's forest would take care of the other, unwanted pests, and in the meantime, he had some precious cargo to deliver...

GMA

They have been on the move for what seemed like hours. The dirt path that they were still following had grown so small that they had been forced to abandon the car and proceed on foot as best they could. However, night had long since fallen, and that meant they could go no further. Beneath the thick cover of the trees that even sunlight struggled to penetrate, moonlight had no chance, and a few sputtering flashlights weren't doing much to help illuminate the way. Shizuka had tripped over a particularly high tree root and fallen, skinning her knees and leaving a nice bruise on her right cheek, before Jou had finally called a halt to their journey for the night.

Their one saving grace was that Honda had had the forethought to bring along materials for starting a fire. He and Bakura began tending to that, gathering wood and creating a reasonably safe fire pit that would not set them and the surrounding forest on fire, while Jou and Otogi went looking for the stream that had been their constant companion since they'd left the car. Ryou, who had been told to stay near the campsite, tended to Shizuka's wounds, taping gauze over the raw scrapes and smoothing a soothing balm over the purple bruise on her cheekbone.

"Better?" he asked shyly, screwing the cap back on the little jar. He knew that he certainly felt better, though whether it was because he'd slept in the car earlier or because they'd stopped for the night he wasn't sure. Unconsciously, his eyes were drawn past Shizuka and into the woods where Bakura had been searching for wood suitable for a fire.

"I'm fine and your yami will be back soon," said Shizuka, twisting and stretching her legs out straight in a test. The scrapes stung when she moved, but it was nothing that would impede their progress the next morning. It was more her pride that had taken the real beating anyway; her brother's fussing, while sweet, never failed to make her feel like she was about five years old.

Ryou's cheeks flamed and he looked away from her hastily. "I-I don't know w-what you're t-talking about," he stuttered, quickly gathering the little roll of bandages that Otogi had given him.

Deciding that she'd take pity on him, Shizuka refrained from teasing him as she rolled her shoulders before stretching her arms above her head. "There's nothing to feel embarrassed about," she remarked. "I don't like being out here, either, and I'm not even a hikari. This forest doesn't feel right."

"You feel it, too?" he asked, so surprised that he stopped his get away to look back at her. The pink flush remained on his face but he was too curious to care.

"Yeah." Shizuka looked distrustfully at the nearest tree. They'd found a little glade to spend the night in, and although the trees and bushes were about five feet away, she disliked being surrounded on all sides. She knew that she would have felt better if Seto, Jou and Mokuba had all been there with them. "It's like… an oily feeling, you know? I feel like I want to go scrub myself in the stream, but I don't even think that would be enough to take it all off. This whole island feels the same way."

He nodded and shivered, lightly wrapping his arms around himself. "Malik and I felt it on the boat," he confided miserably. "We thought we were just imagining things. Now, though, I think that's part of what made both of us so sick. He seemed to feel better once he was on the island, but I can still…" Pensively, he trailed off and nibbled his lip, uncertain of how to explain. "It makes me feel… wrong."

Shizuka looked at him with concern, but before she could say anything, Jou and Otogi crashed out of the woods carrying two collapsible buckets that were filled with water from the stream. Bakura followed them a few seconds later, his arms piled high with wood. Ryou noticeably relaxed the instant that his yami was within sight, something that she was unable to ignore. Unsettled, she stood up and walked over to the small group under the idea that she was going to inspect the water to make sure it was safe. The move also happened to get her close to Bakura without anyone else paying attention. He frowned at her when she paused next to him, standing so close that their shoulders were brushing, but she ignored his sour expression.

"Ryou is scared," she said simply, taking care to keep her voice quiet.

Bakura just looked at her for a minute, and she was dreading whatever would have come out of his mouth when all hell broke loose. One minute she was just standing there beside him and the next something had come from above and dropped itself over her head. Grey gossamer fibres stuck to her skin and hair and she couldn't contain a horrified shriek when she realized that it was from a spider web. A giant, massive spider web. Beside her, Bakura swore vividly as his hand went to his waist where he kept a knife at all times. He easily sliced through the webbing and - amazingly - stopped long enough to cut her free before he roughly jerked her to her feet.

"Free the others," he ordered, pressing the knife into her shaking hands. Shizuka swallowed hard and nodded, stumbling over to where she could see someone thrashing around in more of the webbing. Her skin crawled at the thought of having to touch it again; she felt like it was still clinging to her even though she made sure that it was all gone, but she tried to push those thoughts away as she placed the knife against the bulk of the webbing and pushed. It slid through easily, revealing Otogi's disgusted face.

"I have never been so grossed out in all of my life," he announced.

Shuddering, Shizuka quickly helped him to brush the clinging strands away. If he made sure that her hair and face were free of it in the process, she didn't protest. "Come on, we've got to free Nii-chan and Honda-san," she said urgently.

Otogi didn't have to ask where Bakura or Ryou were; both of them knew that Bakura would take care of his hikari. He was more concerned about the fact that the webbing was everywhere and that it had covered their only source of light, leaving them in darkness that was just barely lit by the thin streams of moonlight that reached them through the trees. "See about getting some light," he told her. "Keep your knife. I'll see to Jou and Honda."

It was difficult to see, and, considering that their campsite had not exactly been the neatest of places, Shizuka held the knife well away from her body just in case she tripped as she made her way over to the fire pit. Honda had already stacked the logs and placed the kindling around the wood, and all that was really left was for the fire to be started. She stuck the handle of her knife between her legs to keep it close as she fumbled with the pack of matches, trying in vain to get one lit. Her fingers were shaking so badly that it took her several attempts, but she finally managed to light one. Relieved, she tossed onto the pile of kindling. A small plume of smoke rose from the wood before the crackling flames began to spread, throwing out a circle of light that illuminated a nightmarish scene.

Jou was busy prying himself free of the sticky webbing. Clumps of it still stuck to his cheeks and hair and he was pulling it off in great chunks. Otogi was leaning over Honda, who had apparently tripped, fallen, and knocked himself unconscious. Bakura was kneeling beside Ryou and using another knife to cut the strands away from his hikari. Ryou was visibly cringing as he looked at his long white hair; the grey webbing had snarled his hair into hopeless tangles that would no doubt take hours to comb out. Beyond that, however, was all shadows and darkness. Anything could have been hiding in the forest.

"Not good," she muttered to herself, clenching her fists. It took a lot of energy to summon a duel monster into the real world, at least triple what it took to summon one in the Shadow Realm, especially when it came to a battle. Regardless, she closed her eyes and opened her connection to Red Archery Girl, calling out to her partner silently. Magic buzzed through her veins, leaving her feeling sick and weak as the monster materialized next to her with a dull flash of light. Red Archery Girl popped out her shell, bow and arrow at the ready.

Sitting back on his haunches, Otogi glanced up at her and prepared to summon his own partner monster. But before he got the chance, a long, slender leg reached out of the darkness and slid around his neck, causing his emerald eyes to widen in shock. Shizuka cried out and Red Archery Girl leapt into action, firing off an arrow, but it was too late; the leg hauled Otogi out of his seat and backwards into the darkness. Honda disappeared a second later. Bakura leapt to his feet, pulling Ryou up with him, and shoved the hikari in Shizuka's direction. She only just managed to catch him before he sent them both to the ground.

"Protect him!" he ordered, spinning to face the darkness. His fingers tightened around the knife that he was holding as a shadow trembled and detached itself from the rest. Shizuka choked back another scream and tightened her grip on Ryou as an enormous spider loomed over them and began spraying more of that horrible webbing all over them. She didn't really know what happened after that. Her hands, ears, eyes, mouth - everything was covered in webbing as Ryou was torn from her arms. The bitter taste of the webbing made her gag and she fought helplessly, hearing the distant, far-off sound of Bakura yelling as the duel monsters began to fight. Ryou screamed and someone laughed in reply. Her magic flared - Red Archery Girl had been defeated - and then it all went black.

Please review!

A/N: Ok, I believe that spider duel monsters weren't actually available until one of the spin-off seasons (I want to say GX but I may be wrong). But Inspector Haga used bug cards so I thought that spider cards weren't that much of a stretch. Also, yes the contest is still on... see earlier chapters for additional details.